Marrakesh to Chefchaouen, Morocco: Travel Day

We bed flipped throughout the night, this kiddo here, the grown up moves there, another kiddo here. It wasn’t the most restful night of sleep. I was telling Ty it feels like we get one good nights sleep for every two that are interrupted.

When we finally got up, we finished packing and then went in search of breakfast. Our driver wasn’t schedule to come pick us up till 11:30.

We got some croissants and walked to the main square for some fresh juice. That’s been delicious! Nothing much was open yet, so we walked around a bit. L also managed to get clipped by a zipping scooter. Those things come out of nowhere so fast. L was crossing the walkway to throw something away and out it came. I grabbed him back as fast as I could but it still got him just a bit. Scared him and I a lot! The scooter guy stopped to make sure he was ok. So did a local shop keeper. Who then started to harass me about watching him more closely. Ugh! So thankful L wasn’t hurt.

By this time, Ty had decided, if L really wanted a picture with the snakes, we would try and make that happen. So we wandered in the market for a bit till we heard the call of the pipes, and the drum of the snake charmers.

–

At first they just kind of threw this little snake around their necks. But Ty really wanted that photo with the cobra. So we hung out a bit more and finally the guy saw us and pulled the cobra out from the blue drum. He then had L come around and sit next to him. It freaked me out that the drum he was antagonizing the snake with was the exact same color as L’s coat! But thankfully, nothing really happened. My kiddos got some amazing photos, and L was beyond thrilled. He immediately announced he wanted a snake as a pet! Not happening.

–

We walked back to our house, and saw a few turkeys on the way.

–

Our driver came and got us, we made it to the airport without and issues. We were a few hours early for our flight, and hoping to get some food in a lounge. However, those were only in the international terminals. We were dismayed when we went to check in for our flight, that not only was it immediately delayed by an hour, there was also no staff at the counters. Ty lined up and then he and I took turns waiting in line with everyone else on our flight for the next hour.

Staff finally showed up and we were able to check in for our flight. Security was pretty intense as well. They took your passport, and stared into it, then your face. Asked if that was you. It was no joke! It was nice to get all that over with, but then we just sat in the waiting area. That thankfully had food! When staff members finally showed up (again!) to start boarding people for the flight, there was a total rush for the door. Then some rapid French started happening and we could tell there was mass confusion about the flight. The flight crew was asking the crowd who was going to Fez, then some passengers started shouting about who was going to Paris. It’s like there was a fight over the plane and where it was going. It was totally bizarre, and we didn’t understand most of it. It seemed decided that the plane was going to Fez so the Paris passengers were routed away from the doorways. We got through, and boarded our plane. The strange thing was before we took off we noticed those Paris passengers getting onto our plane as well. No idea how all that was worked out!

Also apparently our flight was scheduled for 3:10 instead of the 2:10 that we bought our tickets for. We chatted a bit with some other passengers before boarding. Apparently some had bought the 2:10 flight like us, but most others bought the 3:10. No idea if they just combined the flights, but we were never notified of the change in flight time. This Air Arabia was so bizarre! We fly them from Fez to London so we really hope this was a one time issue, and not a regular occurrence.

Thankfully it was an uneventful 45 minute flight. We landed safely in Fez.

–

Due to staff issues it took us about 45 minutes to get our car, and leave the airport. But then we seemed to be back on track and headed out of Fez. Our destination was Chefchaouen, a city about 3 hours north of Fez. It’s renowned for its blue Old Town. Everything has to be painted these few shades of blue. The pictures seem incredible!

Due to the flight delay and the car rental delay, we were going to be driving in the dark again. But thankfully the road seemed a lot less curvy than what we had been driving.

Fez seemed like a large booming city. Right before we left the edge of town, we drove on the craziest street. It was like 1/4 road, 1/2 walk-way, and 1/4 market! I can’t believe we didn’t hit someone!

–

But right after we got through this chaos, the hillside opened up and the countryside was beautiful!

–

This was about the last photos I could take before sunset. After this the road, was hit and miss. The maps.me directions took us off on a 5 mile detour, through a partially constructed road. Then we added about an extra hour to our drive time by taking this road that was about half way there. Each lane was halfway eroded. So if someone was coming from the other direction, Ty was driving with two tires in the dirt.

I can definitely say, I was praying for our safety, several times during this drive. There really wasn’t any where for us to stop and eat, or get the kids dinner. About 8pm we found a little quick market. These are basically small rooms, that are filled with chips, a small refrigerator for drinks, and crackers. So we bought the kids some sort of fruit/milk smoothie, and some crackers, while Ty and I each had a snickers bar for dinner. Then we hit the road again. Thankfully L fell asleep. R was just starting to get car sick again, when we pulled into Chefchaouen. We were so thankful our host was organized. He had someone meet us, at this square. They showed us where to park, since there is no parking in Old Town. Then he guided us to our house. It was so nice to get settled in! From what we could tell at night, these streets are beautiful. We couldn’t wait to see more in the morning!